Playbooks and MCP

--var key=value overrides YAML defaults consistently for step fields and external template files. Newly supplied variables and empty overrides are supported. Missing variables are errors; variable values are not recursively expanded.

MCP approval requires approved=true in the confirmation form. Modern protocols use InputRequests round trips with single-use challenges bound to the session and complete tool input, expiring after two minutes; legacy protocols use elicitation. Configured fallback applies only when approval is explicitly unsupported. Protocol errors, rejection, cancellation and timeout never authorize execution. Approval requests and execution are audited separately.

Playbooks

Playbooks combine shell, script, copy, ensure, and template steps in YAML. Save this read-only task as check-hosts.yaml to verify target selection and credentials:

name: check-hosts
targets:
  tags: [web]
settings:
  concurrency: 2
  on_error: stop
steps:
  - name: uptime
    shell: uptime

xops play check-hosts.yaml
xops play --help

stop stops subsequent steps on the current host; abort_all cancels other host tasks after failure; continue allows subsequent steps on the current host. Check target tags and privilege configuration before running.

MCP

xops mcp serve

MCP exposes host operations to AI clients. Set the client command to the full path of xops and its arguments to ["mcp", "serve"]. Configure approval thresholds, blocked commands, protected paths, and audit logs in the configuration file's guardrail section.

Prepare credentials and verified host keys before starting; MCP does not display terminal authentication or unlock prompts. If credentials are unavailable, check storage with xops credential doctor and restore access.

See the MCP reference for subcommands and options.